Two random events:

1. My daughter’s been having nightmares all week.

2. I cleaned out my son’s closet.

Here’s how they’re related: In the back of my son’s closet, I found a copy of Dream Helmet, which I had intended to give my daughter for her birthday in June.

Well, it just so happens that Dream Helmet is a book of poetry about a boy who sleeps with a special helmet on, a helmet that brings him strange and wonderful dreams. It’s a great read-aloud book, full of silly sounds and fun rhymes.

I couldn’t resist buying it last spring because William New is also a literary critic. Years ago at UVic, I wrote a Canadian Lit paper about Emily Carr’s writings in relation to a William New essay about early literature and the assumption that native culture would soon be assimilated. (Don’t ask me why I remember this, but I do.) And how often does an author of academia turn up writing children’s poetry books?

Not often enough!

My kids and I have now cracked open the rediscovered pages of Dream Helmet, and there were no bad dreams last night.